How can you improve Retirement Readiness?

A study from the nonprofit Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies® (TCRS) titled, Fourteen Facts About Women’s Retirement Outlook aimed at raising awareness of retirement risks that women face in order to affect positive change. “Women can take greater control of their finances,” according to Catherine Collinson, president of TCRS, “by taking small steps that can ultimately lead to a giant leap in terms of their long-term retirement readiness.”

The 7 Steps for Improving Women’s Retirement Readiness

1. Develop a retirement strategy and write it down.

2. Calculate your retirement savings and income needs.

3. Consider retirement benefits as part of your total compensation.

4. If your employer offers a retirement plan, participate.

5. Get educated about retirement investing.

6. Have a backup.

7. Importantly, talk about retirement with family and close friends.

In the March 2014 release Collinson continued, “How each woman ultimately plans on spending her retirement is unique, but the tools to help attain retirement readiness are common to all. Women have made tremendous strides in recent decades in terms of educational attainment and careers. Now is the time to make even greater strides in achieving a financially secure retirement.”

The Details that can improve your Retirement Readiness:

1. Develop a retirement strategy and write it down. Envision your future retirement, formulate a goal for how much you will need to save each year (be sure to include employer-sponsored retirement plans and outside savings). When facing life’s important decisions about whether to reduce work hours or take time out of the workforce to be a parent or caregiver, carefully consider the financial trade-offs and options to help mitigate the impact on long-term security.
2. Calculate your retirement savings and income needs – and save at a level to achieve those needs.
3. Consider retirement benefits as part of your total compensation. If your employer doesn’t offer you a retirement plan, ask for one.
4. If your employer offers a retirement plan, participate. Be sure that your annual salary deferral takes full advantage of employer matching contributions, if available. Contribute as much as you can.
5. Get educated about retirement investing. Seek professional assistance if needed. Learn about possible ways to help make savings last longer including when to take withdrawals from retirement accounts to minimize taxes and penalties. Take advantage of the Saver’s Credit if eligible.
6. Have a backup plan in the event you are unable to work before your planned retirement. Identify potential cost-cutting lifestyle changes such as moving to a smaller home or taking on a roommate(s) and consider insurance products such as disability insurance and life insurance.
7. Importantly, talk about retirement with family and close friends. An open dialogue with trusted loved ones about expectations of either needing to provide or receive financial support should be part of every woman’s retirement strategy.

To read the entire Fourteen Facts survey report and fact sheet and additional information, click here or COPY and PASTE www.transamericacenter.org into your browser window. To read about the Fourteen Facts: women’s Risky retirement outlook, Click Here.

About the 14th Annual Retirement Survey

This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Poll on behalf of Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies between January 21 – February 21, 2013, among a nationally representative sample of 3,651 full-time and part-time workers, including 1,902 women and 1,749 men. Potential respondents were targeted based on employment status and company size. Respondents met the following criteria: U.S. residents, age 18 or older, full-time workers or part-time workers in for-profit companies, and employer size of 10 or more. Results were weighted to account for differences between the population available via the Internet versus by telephone, and to ensure that each quota group had a representative sample based on the number of employees at companies in each employee size range. No estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

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